09-16-2021, 02:11 AM
It took a bit of fiddling as well as grinding using a wheel on my Dremel tool to make a shallow in the small tuning shaft to prevent the dial cord from traveling along it, which kept making the cord jump off the big wheel. That and a little rosin on the shaft for grip and the new dial cord works a treat.
After that I aligned the radio. This took some doing to get the frequencies to actually line up all across the bands. With the IF set at exactly 450 KC, if you got one end to line up well, the other would be a few hundred KC off. All one had to adjust where a frequency came in on the dial was the oscillator adjustment condenser, and that shifted things all across the band. After much trial and error, by re-tuning the IF a little at a time, I was able to get the frequencies to line up within 100KC all across the broadcast band. The police band and shortwave bands both lined up acceptably too.
Careful adjustment of the RF adjustment condensers peaked the signals on each band. Interestingly, I found that the AM band does much better with a fairly short, only about 4 foot, antenna ! This does not give as good results on the shortwave bands as my regular test antenna (about 10 feet long) but it is close enough to be acceptable.
The radio is a pretty decent performer, on par with the Philco 38-10 I recently restored. Tonight I listened to WSM 650 in Nashville, WLW 700 in Cincinnati, WCBS 880 New York, WRVA 1140 from Richmond, WLAC 1510 from Nashville, and many others, all on the short antenna. I was able to receive WWV at 5 MC and 10 MC, and CHU at 7.85MC, as well as many other stations on the shortwave bands, although WWV and CHU required the longer antenna. With the shorter antenna I still am able to receive a lot of stations on both shortwave tuning bands, but not as many as with the longer one, the opposite of how things are on the standard broadcast band.Once I get the new cabinet built, I will work on making an antenna which can fit inside the new cabinet, and can receive decently on all bands in the evening. The fact the the short antenna in my radio room seemed to do well for the broadcast band gives me great hope.
After that I aligned the radio. This took some doing to get the frequencies to actually line up all across the bands. With the IF set at exactly 450 KC, if you got one end to line up well, the other would be a few hundred KC off. All one had to adjust where a frequency came in on the dial was the oscillator adjustment condenser, and that shifted things all across the band. After much trial and error, by re-tuning the IF a little at a time, I was able to get the frequencies to line up within 100KC all across the broadcast band. The police band and shortwave bands both lined up acceptably too.
Careful adjustment of the RF adjustment condensers peaked the signals on each band. Interestingly, I found that the AM band does much better with a fairly short, only about 4 foot, antenna ! This does not give as good results on the shortwave bands as my regular test antenna (about 10 feet long) but it is close enough to be acceptable.
The radio is a pretty decent performer, on par with the Philco 38-10 I recently restored. Tonight I listened to WSM 650 in Nashville, WLW 700 in Cincinnati, WCBS 880 New York, WRVA 1140 from Richmond, WLAC 1510 from Nashville, and many others, all on the short antenna. I was able to receive WWV at 5 MC and 10 MC, and CHU at 7.85MC, as well as many other stations on the shortwave bands, although WWV and CHU required the longer antenna. With the shorter antenna I still am able to receive a lot of stations on both shortwave tuning bands, but not as many as with the longer one, the opposite of how things are on the standard broadcast band.Once I get the new cabinet built, I will work on making an antenna which can fit inside the new cabinet, and can receive decently on all bands in the evening. The fact the the short antenna in my radio room seemed to do well for the broadcast band gives me great hope.
